I've Been Waiting
by Kishiro Kitsune
Summary: Axel waits for Roxas in the next life where he lives with Demyx and Zexion. It takes a rough day of remembering everything he went through with Roxas to be reunited with the small blond again. AxelRoxas


**I've Been Waiting**

Summary: Axel waits for Roxas in the next life where he lives with Demyx and Zexion. It takes a rough day of remembering everything he went through with Roxas to be reunited with the small blond again. Implied Axel/Roxas

_**Disclaimer**_: I don't own Kingdom Hearts.

Shiro: I so totally abused the lines in this one. You'll see what I mean as you read.

Bast: Damn! That's alot of lines!

Shiro: (sighs)

* * *

A pale hand lightly grips a sky blue pencil and roughly sketches out the face of a teenage boy. Within minutes a pair of eyes are formed, the eyelashes curled in an almost feminine manner. Eyebrows, a nose, and lips soon follow. The hand pauses a moment, the pencil tip quivering over where the boys hairline would be. And then the sketching resumes, this time forming spiky locks of hair. 

"Axeeeeel!" The call of the most childish of Axel's roommates breaks the peace that had fallen over the room. "Come on! We've got to go get food again!"

The pencil stops moving and Axel sighs and sets it aside. Then he looks down at his unfinished picture with a sad smile.

"Axel!"

Not wanting to disturb what little peace is left in the room, Axel gets up and walks out the door before he yells at Demyx. Scattered about the room are half finished pictures, all of the same boy.

As Axel leaves the room he tugs a sky blue hair band out of his unruly red hair and stuffs in in his pocket. The last time he wore it around the others they teased him about it for over a week. He'd prefer not to go through that again.

In the hallway Axel is met by his two roommates. There's Zexion, who has slate-gray hair that always covers one of his blue-gray eyes and then there's Demyx, who has blond hair styled in a mullet and green-blue eyes.

"Ready to go?" Demyx asks hopefully. "We've been waiting for you for the past hour and- hey! You're still in your pajama's!" He frowns at Axel. "You were suppose to be changing clothes!"

Axel avoids looking at either of his roommates, instead looking at the sleeves of his red pajama's while picking at imaginary loose threads. "I got… distracted." He finally says, knowing that Demyx and Zexion will have him standing in the hallway until he tells them something.

Demyx looks at him, as if trying to figure out if that's the truth by using Axel's body movements. Fortunately for Axel, Demyx has never been good at that. Zexion, on the other hand, is an expert at picking up subtle things from body language. He meets Axel's eyes and then nods.

"Come on, Demyx. We'll wait in the kitchen."

* * *

_So you're number thirteen, Roxas. Am I right?_

_Uh… yeah. Who are you?_

_The name's Axel. Got it memorized?_

* * *

"Earth to Axel. Come in, Axel." 

Axel's mind comes crash-landing back to earth and he blinks when he finds a piece of paper being waved in his face in an annoying manner. With a snap of his fingers the paper is engulfed in flames. Demyx yelps and drops the paper, cradling his scorched fingers against his chest.

"What was that for?!" Demyx exclaims, his eyes tearing up from the pain. "That hurt!"

Axel almost feels bad for Demyx when he catches sight of the blister forming on his fingers. He makes no move to comfort the smaller male and just mumbles that he's sorry and walks into the grocery store with the list Zexion gave him earlier. (Demyx is prone to loosing his, so they make sure to have at least 2.) "I am sorry, Demyx." He whispers to himself.

* * *

_Axel, that's a little heartless, don't you think?_

_We're Nobody's Roxie. We don't have hearts._

_Stop calling me that!_

_Aww, but Roxie--_

_No!_

* * *

Storm clouds hang ominously overhead, threatening to poor down rain at any second. That doesn't seem to bother Axel, who is sitting out on a rock in a grassy field while staring off at the mountains. 

Hidden in some bushes watching him are Zexion and Demyx. Demyx is there to make sure Axel will be okay since the redhead has been acting weird all day. Zexion is there because Demyx dragged him along.

"Demyx, exactly why are we here?" Zexion asks after a few minutes of just sitting there.

Demyx makes a shushing noise and then wait's a minute or two to answer Zexion's question. "I'm worried about Axel." He whispers. "He's been acting really weird all day. You've noticed it too, right?" He looks imploringly at Zexion, who nods. "I want to make sure Axel will be okay." Demyx continues. "You know how he gets in the rain."

Zexion made a noise of agreement, remembering very well what happened the last time Axel got caught in the rain. Demyx had to carry him all the way home with a little help from Zexion and then the poor redhead was sick for a week afterward. Zexion got the job of feeding him and keeping him in bed. In short, Axel and rain don't mix.

A scent drifted past Zexion's sensitive nose and he began to analyze it in his mind when he finds that he hasn't smelled it before in this world, but that it is familiar. He breathes in the scent again and begins breaking it down to pick out the different scents. _'A clean breeze, spring rain, and…'_ Zexion lets his thoughts wander in hopes that one of them will lead to him figuring out what the scent is. _'Some kind of fruit; tangy with underlying sweetness_.' He breathes in the scent again and a small smile tugs at his lips. "Demyx, lets go."

Demyx looks over at Zexion in surprise. "What? But Axel--"

"Will be fine." Zexion smoothly interrupts as he stands up. "Lets go home before Luxord tries to move in again."

Demyx notices the slight smile on Zexion's face and realization dawns on him. "Something good is going to happen, right?" Without waiting for his companion's reply, he stands up. "Alright, lets go home!"

* * *

_Here, Roxy!_

_Sea-salt ice cream? You got this for me?_

_There's no one else around. And besides, you're my best friend. Got it memorized?_

_Hey! Quit it, Axel! I get it!_

* * *

Axel breathes a sigh of relief when he hears Demyx and Zexion finally leaving. Now he can relax and talk to himself without feeling too stupid. Of course, Axel pretends like he's talking to Roxas instead of himself. 

"Hey, Roxy." He picks at some moss on his rock. "I still miss you." The moss falls from the rock and is engulfed in flames. "Demyx dragged me off to go grocery shopping today, so I've got another drawing of you that will go unfinished." He laughs hollowly, feeling no cheer from his words. If anything he feels worse. "I wish you were here. I know I've said this before, but Rox, we actually have hearts here! Well, the others do." He puts a hand over where his heart would be. "Mine's still missing. And as lame as I'm sure you still think it is, I still say you're the one who has my heart. Only you, Rox."

* * *

_Hey Roxas! I know where my heart is!_

_Axel…_

_You have it! But you know what? That's fine. You wanna know why?_

_Not really._

_Because __I__ have __your__ heart._

… _Axel, that's the lamest thing I've heard from you yet._

* * *

"It's been a few days since I last talked to you, so I'm going to catch you up on what's been going on." Axel says after not talking for a few minutes. "Luxord tried to move in with me, Demyx, and Zexion a few days ago because Larxene kept threatening him after finding out that he cheated at some card game they were playing. And apparently Marluxia's been decorating their house with all this pink stuff so Luxord's suffering from an overload of pink. It's his own fault for rooming wit the two!" He pauses for a moment to catch his breath. "I think everything's the same with the others. Xemnas is still rambling about darkness and nothingness and hearts and all that stuff and Xigbar's still causing problems. He found an interesting anagram with Xemnas's name and has been using it to torment him. And Xaldin has been drinking sake and not sharing it with anyone. I lit it on fire the other day. Oh, and Saix is still kissing ass. As for everyone else, they're… somewhere doing something." 

A bird's cry pierces the air as it flies past.

* * *

_Your mind's made up?_

_Why did the keyblade choose me? I have to know._

_You can't turn on the Organization! You get on their bad side and they'll destroy you!_

_No one would miss me._

_That's not true…! I would._

* * *

Axel remains silent and lets old memories wash over him. Each one involves Roxas in some way.

* * *

_We're… best friends, right?_

_Sure… but I'm not getting turned into a dusk for… wait a sec! You remember now?!_

_Y-yeah._

_Great!_

* * *

Axel pulls his knees up to his chest and frowns at the memory. He felt so lost after Roxas left that he didn't know what to do with himself. He was actually happy when Xemnas sent him to bring Roxas back, even if it didn't work at all. In fact, it made him feel even worse and even more volatile than usual.

* * *

_The Roxas that I know is long gone._

* * *

That was even worse; realizing that the Roxas in the fake Twilight Town was nothing like his Roxas. It was like talking to a completely different person. At that moment, his heart broke. Or it would have if he had a heart.

* * *

_Simply amazing, Roxas._

_Axel._

_You really do remember me this time. I'm SO FLATTERED! But you're too late!_

* * *

Axel winces when he recalls how much he hated Roxas at that moment. After everything they went through together, all the moments they shared, it took Axel that long to remember him. That was the first time Axel had ever fought Roxas with all of his being.

* * *

_Axel…_

_Lets meet again in the next life._

_Yeah. I'll be waiting._

_Silly. Just because you have a next life…_

* * *

"That was the last time I saw you as you." Axel murmurs sadly. "And here I am, actually in the next life. And you're not here. Damn it! I'm here, Roxas! I'm right here waiting for you, just like I said!" Axel stands up and glares at the sky. His vision goes blurry and he blinks back tears furiously. 

"Axel…"

A feeling of warmth wraps around Axel's waist and a very solid form presses against his back. Axel freezes up, recognizing the voice. He prays that it's not just another dream and that he won't wake up to find that he somehow crawled into bed with Demyx again and is being hugged by him. (Luxord, Larxene, and Xigbar laughed over that for days afterwards.)

Axel turns around and looks down at the small blond who still has his arms around his waist. All coherent thoughts fly out of his mind and he finds himself incapable of speech. Axel wraps his arms around him and cries.

"I've been waiting." Roxas whispers.

_I wanted to see Roxas. He… was the only one I like… He made me feel… like I had a heart._

* * *

End.

* * *

You wouldn't believe how long this sat unfinished in my folder. I finally got it finished at school in English class. But that's only because everyone else was at the talent show. So, I guess I should explain a few things about this whole thing. Particularly the end with Roxas's comment and everything. Okay, so that's the only thing I can think of that really needs an explanation. All other questions will be answered via review reply. 

So, the reason Roxas said that was because he was waiting for Axel to 'call' him there. So Axel going through all his memories of Roxas in that one day and having his emotions so stirred up that he actually yelled at the sky, crying out for Roxas was enough to get Roxas there. Yeah. That's the best I can come up with.


End file.
